Posted:
There are quite a few scenes I LOVED from the serial so far...Hats off to the creatives for NOT having sacrificed the political aspects of the show just to depict a love story or vice versa...They've even taken trouble to show the smaller incidents like Akbar's formal wedding to BK's wife etc...
I loved the pace right from the beginning (except maybe the Shaguni-Mainawati scenes) and every week has shown 2-3 political incidents along with Akbar's gharelu maamlas! I sincerely request the makers to not speed up or slow down the imminent love story...to spend time nurturing it...to neither wrap it up in a month nor stretch it for 2 years!
Anyway, back to the topic - I had quite a few scenes in mind...please feel free to add or refute -
1) Shaguni's shells Much as I didn't like Shaguni's deliberate presence and her cave rituals later on, her introductory scene when she throws the shells in the air was quite novel and took me by pleasant surprise.
2) Akbar's sword There are a lot of mannerisms of Akbar that I like...(I like that he's toned down his wry smiles too)
One scene in particular that would have to stand out for me would be the scene where he twirls the sword round and round on the table as he's talking to Sharifuddin!
3) Ghanghaur yatra The entire palanquin yatra during ghanghaur...the Rajasthani folklore music...the steps of the fort were beautiful...though only visual effects - were better then most CGIs I've seen in historicals! I also loved Akbar's expression when he caught a glimpse of Jodha for the first time. To me, his smile said 'Yup...she is indeed as good-looking as I'd heard and I think I might end up having a small crush on her'
4) Akbar-Ruqs chess match Loved Loved Loved the chess meet between Akbar and Ruqaiyya...what a novel way to introduce his relationship with his best friend...was this lifted off some other movie/serial or did the makers actually hit jackpot...It was a welcoming scene, especially just after we'd been subjected to many weeks of Akbar's hard-heartedness...his reactions & the equation of their relationship was something totally different!!!
5) Jodha-Sujamal For some reason I liked the scene where Sujamal takes a promise from Jodha that she wouldn't come in between the brothers' quarrels...I liked Jodha's poignancy in keeping quiet as she knew those affairs were beyond the ken of her brave/wise self...I also like their Rajasthani brother-sister song that comes in the background.
6) All violent scenes (except for the scene in the bazaar where Akbar misbehaves with that girl which makes no sense) I like that the makers haven't been squeamish in showing violence...much as I despise violence, I cannot imagine life/punishments would have been any tamer than those depicted and I'm happy makers didn't shy from giving us strong doses of reality in an effort to depict Akbar as 'holier than all'...
7) Jodha's confident 'Yes' When Jodha readily agrees to the wedding blindly trusting her father...you just have to feel for her at that point...she seems like the most adorable daughter at that point...ever!
Also when the heartbroken Moti promises to be with Jodha wherever she goes (under the impression that Jodha is going to be sent to a lifetime of curse!) their relationship appears very cute then...
8) Banjarans Loved the Banjarans describing Jodha...(this would have been quite close to how most kings/other people would have heard of royals from other far-off kingdoms) Again, I think the creatives have thought out this scene very well...Akbar's range of expressions as he recollected her features while trying to keep his feelings subtle were lovely! Following this, not only does he reward them for their efforts but also threatens to have their tongue cut off if they repeated the song again...masterpiece!
9) Akbar-BK How Akbar's relationship with BK changed over the course of time and how it culminated into BK realizing his folly...wow...Akbar kneeling on the ground in his war-armour tearfully hugging his dad-like figure...that scene made me quite emotional. The most poignant scene of all would have to be when BK left...that was amazing - personally, my best scene of the lot...
It was also quite obvious following BK's departure that Akbar seemed somewhat handicapped after having lost his greatest mentor!
10) Akbar-MA about Jodha Lastly, how Akbar refutes MA's comments on Jodha and overrules her advice with his glares and his command...come to think of it, none of the actual J-A scenes have been note-worthy so far...yet, his reactions in various instances when he reflects on her are quite entertaining...'Jo Amer mein hai wo aur kahin nahin hai' etc etc
I'm so glad the makers have not succumbed to current trends and tried to keep it somewhat realistic...they could have deliberately shown the leads incidentally meeting each other, falling over each other and bumping into each other over and over again...but they didn't...I'm glad they've not shown Akbar as a love-sick puppy recollecting Jodha at every spare moment...he's a busy monarch and his portrayal has its good balance between politics, valour, relations & family...so far its just been a meeting or two with lots of hearsay between them...I'm impressed Ekta...
Indian Idol 15
